It was far from the expected cakewalk, but Jose Mourinho and Manchester United are one win away from a major title this season after seeing off the semifinal second leg threat from Hull City in the EFL Cup on Thursday.
Liverpool vs Southampton highlights
With a 2-0 lead from the first leg at Old Trafford, Manchester United were expected to comfortably see off the challenge posed by Hull City at the KCOM Stadium, but the relegation-threatened side gave Mourinho's team a real scare.
Tom Huddlestone opened the scoring for Hull City, before Paul Pogba seemingly made it safe for Manchester United, only for Oumar Niasse's late strike to bring the worry lines back again.
In the end, though, Manchester United held on for a 3-2 aggregate victory after going down 2-1 in the second leg.
"It's a bit of a strange feeling, if I'm honest," Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick told MUTV.
"As a one-off game we're very disappointed with losing but the bigger picture is we're going to the cup final and we can take plenty of delight from that. So it's a bit of a strange night."
Hull took the lead in the 35th minute in controversial circumstances. Off a corner from Shaun Maloney, Harry Maguire went tumbling down, with referee Jon Moss pointing to the penalty spot. Marcos Rojo was the defender punished for a supposed push on the Hull defender, but the contact was minimal.
Huddlestone stepped up to take the penalty, thumping the ball home to leave Hull one goal short of, at least, pushing this semifinal tie into extra time.
Manchester United, though, seemed to have settled the contest in the 66th minute when Pogba poked home to make it 1-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate in favour of his team.
However, Niasse made it 2-1 for Hull with five minutes remaining, tapping home off a first-time volleyed cross from David Meyler to make it tense in the final moments.
Manchester United, though, kept their composure in the end to seal a place in the Wembley final. In the big final, Mourinho's side will face Southampton, who dispatched Liverpool 2-0 on aggregate.
United won the FA Cup last season at Wembley and Mourinho, who has won three League Cup titles with Chelsea, will want to make it a second major trophy in as many years for the club.
Watch the highlights of the second leg HERE
